1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an identification system comprising a device for obtaining and recording fingerprint data. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved fingerprint recording device on which a fingerprint can be imprinted and stored on a particular legal or business document for the purpose of affixing to the document a permanent record of evidence of the identity of the individual involved in the legal or financial transaction.
2. Cross-Reference to Related Applications
U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,089 to Reardon discloses a fingerprint pad which employs a reflective substrate material which enhances the fingerprint image and the use of a removable cover for ease of processing a questioned fingerprint. The present invention in part discloses and claims subject matter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,089 to Reardon.
3. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, financial and legal transactions have always been susceptible to fraud through misrepresentation of identity, forgery of signatures, and the counterfeiting of documents, such as traveller's checks. The use of fingerprints in conjunction with signatures, or in the place of signatures, would serve as a deterrent to fraud and provide evidence for the prosecution of criminals engaged in the above crimes. The taking of fingerprints, however, has previously been a time consuming and messy task involving inks, or in a few cases, a combination of special chemicals and chemically sensitized paper.
The first need which inventions in this field must address is the need for a clean method of taking fingerprints. This requires the elimination of any inks, chemicals, or powders which would make a person feel that the fingerprinting method has made their hands dirty. The second requirement is that the resulting device must be free of materials or techniques which are too expensive or complicated to manufacture using standard mass production techniques.
The present invention satisfies both of these requirements. In addition to providing a very clean alternative to inked fingerprints, it discloses a low-cost design which involves a minimal number of parts which can be easily incorporated into the mass production of transaction documents such as traveler's checks, credit card transaction slips, driver's applications, and tax returns, to name a few.
Various prior art fingerprint devices and the like, are well known and are to be found to be exemplary of the U.S. prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 2,500,612 to Krough discloses a device for placing fingerprints on documents. This invention includes the use of powder on the finger before the impression is made on a pad. U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,055 to Yonchar teaches of a device for preserving fingerprints on a document, which includes a complex series of folded strips and the use of a powdery substance.
The most notable example of the prior art is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,910 to Hollie. Hollie discloses a document identification system where a stamp-like patch comprised of a multiplicity of layers is adhesively attached to a document. To use Hollie's device, the user must first peel off and discard a protective backing sheet to expose an adhesive layer by which the patch is attached to the document. Then, to record the fingerprint, the person must lift a transparent cover sheet, then he must peel off an intermediary isolating liner which must be discarded, then he must impress a fingerprint onto the exposed layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive, and finally he must press the transparent cover sheet back down over the fingerprint image to lock-in and preserve the fingerprint image, whereby the cover becomes irremovably adhered to the pressure-sensitive adhesive. Though the fingerprint image recorded by Hollie's invention is not visible to the naked eye, it can be made visible with special wavelengths of light and photographed through the protective cover.
All of the fingerprint pads heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages, including the use of messy powders or chemicals, the use of expensive multiple layers, the requirement for disposable dividing layers which must be detached and thrown away, the use of irremovable covers which obstruct the processing of the fingerprint image, or other design features which preclude low-cost construction and mass production.
Furthermore, the prior art, as in the inventions of Hollie and U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,089 to Reardon, relies on the use of adhesives for affixing a fingerprint pad device to the document in question. In these devices, the fingerprint lies on a substrate material separated from the document by an adhesive. This common technique leaves open the possibility that fraud may be achieved by peeling the substrate material off of the document and attaching it to some other document which is fraudulent. The present invention prevents this avenue of fraud by eliminating the adhesive and substrate material and using the document itself as an integral and irremovable member of the fingerprint recording device.
These patents or known prior uses teach and disclose various types of fingerprint recording devices of various sorts and manufactures as well as methods of construction; but none of them, whether taken singly or in combination, disclose the specific details of the present invention.
The present invention is an improvement over the prior art in that it provides a construction which does not soil the user's hand with any inks, powders, or chemicals; it produces a fingerprint image which is visible to the naked eye; it does not require the peeling and discarding of intermediate waste materials; and it provides for a removable cover which allows for unobstructed processing of the fingerprint image. In addition, the invention eliminates the use of excessive layers and components which would increase cost and otherwise complicate the mass production of documents incorporating this device.